We sometimes think of traditional Christmas carols as being largely European in origin, but the United States has contributed several that are now internationally sung, and one of the most beautiful is the Appalachian folk carol “I Wonder as I Wander,” performed here by the great American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson (1911–1972):
December is Homeschool Holiday Music Month in the River Houses, and throughout the month we’re sharing an assortment of seasonal favorites in a great variety of styles and genres — classical and modern, sacred and secular, serious and silly — along with a collection of easy educational notes that will let you teach little musical lessons all along the way.
“I Wonder as I Wander” is a religious carol that tells the Christian Nativity story, but in colloquial language and in an Appalachian regional dialect. The version of the carol that is sung today was written in 1934 by the American folklorist and musician John Jacob Niles (1892–1980). Niles was traveling though the North Carolina mountains in the early 1930s collecting local folk music, and when passing through the town of Murphy he encountered a little girl named Annie Morgan singing fragments of an unfamiliar tune. He paid the girl to sing it several times until he had copied the music and words down — reportedly only two or three lines, not a complete piece — and then Niles himself worked that fragment into the complete carol that we know.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor or’n’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.When Mary birthed Jesus, ’twas in a cow stall,
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all;
But high from God’s heaven a star’s light did fall,
And the promise of ages it then did recall.If Jesus had wanted for any wee thing:
A star in the sky, or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s angels in heaven for to sing,
He surely could have had it, ’cause He was the King!I wonder as I wander out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior did come for to die
For poor or’n’ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
Here’s a fine little five-minute documentary on the carol’s history, featuring its birthplace of Murphy, North Carolina:
One simple musical lesson to teach to your beginning students this month is that a given piece of music can be performed under many different arrangements — settings that differ in tempo, accompaniment, number of singers, and general style. In contrast to the gospel-style performance of Mahalia Jackson, for example, here’s a beautiful choral arrangement of “I Wonder as I Wander” by John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers (who definitely do not have Appalachian accents):
And for something completely different, compare that to this dramatically choreographed arrangement from superstar violinist Linsdey Sterling (b. 1986) — you’ll note that it has more than eight million views, leaving Mahalia and John Rutter in the dust:
If that’s a little too frenetic for your taste, you can share with your students an instrumental arrangement — an arrangement that highlights the beauty of the tune itself and the characteristic sound of a particular instrument or group of instruments. This intricate guitar arrangement of “I Wonder as I Wander” is by Will Ackerman (b. 1949) and David Cullen (b. 1959):
From a little girl in a mountain town to performances in the cathedral churches of Europe and everywhere in between — that quite a course of history for a simple American tune.
What marvelous musical discoveries have you been making in your homeschool during this delightful Holiday Music Month? 🎄 🎵
❡ Musical memories: If you’d like to fill your homeschool with some beautiful background sounds during the holidays, why not tune in to the 24-hour Holiday Channel from WQXR, the famous classical music radio station in New York City. “Enjoy the sounds of orchestras, choirs, brass ensembles and more as we celebrate the sacred and secular sounds of the season.” I have it on as background music almost every day at this time of year. Won’t you join me? 📻
❡ Olden times and ancient rhymes: What did the Christmas season sound like a hundred years ago and more? Find out from this wonderful collection of historic recordings of American Christmas music, brought together by the Library of Congress. 🎄
❡ Lift every voice: This is one of our occasional posts on Homeschool Arts & Music. Add your name to our weekly mailing list and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🗞
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